From Joseph Obukata, Warri

Hundreds of casual workers of the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC), in Warri, Delta state, yesterday, grounded commercial activities at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) subsidiary’s company over their continuous casualization by the management.

The workers are protesting the failure of NNPC to regularise their employment over the years.

The protest which took off inside the premises of the WRPC around 9am, Thursday, left many fuel tankers stranded on the road.

It was tailored to draw the attention of the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mele Kyari, to urgently address the matter.

The protesters are demanding their “conversion from casual to permanent staff, increase in salary, payment of all outstanding allowances, better working conditions and welfare”.

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Bearing leaves and placards with various inscriptions such as “No conversion, no quick fix,” “15, 25, 27 years of slavery must stop,” “NNPC stop technical lies,” “WRPC, KRPC, PRPC must work,” “Increase our salary,” among others, the protesters chanted solidarity songs at draw management attention to their plight.

The casual staff, numbering 336, some of whom have worked for 28 years, are also requesting payoffs, since the NNPC management has “refused” to yield to their demand for regularization over the years.

Accusing the NNPC management of consistently lying and failing to honour promises made over the issue that has lingered for many years, they warned that there will be no resumption of work until their demands are met.

According to one of the protesting staff (name withheld), “the workers want to leave the job and they want the management to pay them off since the management don’t need their services.

“On the ground that the management still wants their services and wants to keep them, the workers are demanding for their conversion from casual staff to permanent staff of the organization”.

Recall that a similar protest which took place in 2019 and 2021 were resolved by WRPC host communities’ leaders who are said to be currently displeased with the disposition of the NNPC management on the matter.